Something to Celebrate: America's Lifesaving Work| Commentary

Dire headlines from around the globe and polls showing a record-breaking plunge in the publicís confidence in our Supreme Court, Congress and the office of the president may make the average American want to throw up their hands in despair. But in what many might consider the least expected place to look, I have found something truly worth celebrating. I wish more Americans knew about the unprecedented American effort that saves millions of childrenís lives around the world every year providing a true beacon of hope.

Consider this: Congress set up the first Child Survival Fund in the mid-1980s in response to a call for a child survival revolution from the late James P. Grant, the American head of UNICEF. It was just 30 years ago that UNICEF reported 41,000 children under the age of 5 were dying every single day from largely preventable malnutrition and disease. Thatís right, 41,000 a day dying from diseases such as measles and whopping cough coupled with malnutrition ó from dehydration and deadly diarrhea brought on by unsafe water. Today UNICEF reports the child death rate has tumbled nearly 60 percent ó from 41,000 a day to 17,000 a day. Thatís 15 million child deaths a year in the mid-1980s to 6.2 million a year today.

Bipartisan U.S. government leadership has been instrumental in this extraordinary success. The U.S. Agency for International Development, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, White House initiatives and Congressional legislation have created historic collaborations between the worldís governments, international agencies, civil society organizations, faith communities, corporations and local institutions. Itís important to remember that success on this scale would not have happened but for U.S. foreign aid which clocks in at less than 1 percent of the entire federal budget.

The late Sen. Mark Hatfield, a Republican from Oregon, would have called this bipartisan accomplishment that saves the lives of millions of children around the world a step toward achieving ďhumanityís purpose on earth.Ē If thatís the case, why do so few of us know about it?

Jim Grant would say itís because the ongoing deaths of 17,000 children a day is an emergency, but sadly, a silent one. Unlike blaring headlines announcing earthquakes, famines and war that benefit from much-needed emergency humanitarian aid, these deaths take place quietly and unnoticed.

We would do well to increase support for World Bank President Jim Kimís call to end extreme poverty by 2030 and USAIDís plans to help save 500,000 children by the end of 2015 in 24 priority countries.

Congress would also do well to pass Rep. Christopher H. Smithís, R-N.J., End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act ó which encourages increased research and development to diagnose, prevent and treat deadly and debilitating NTDs. The bill offers promise to more than a billion impoverished around the world ó and in the U.S. ó who currently suffer unnecessarily. The recently introduced legislation already has bipartisan support from Reps. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz.; Hank Johnson, D-Ga.; and Gregory W. Meeks, D-N.Y. But will it pass?